Abortion bills await governor's signature or more debate

Fetus burials, ultrasounds and public employee insurance among topics

Madison — Just days after the passage of legislation requiring an ultrasound before an abortion, a bill proposed by an Assembly Republican would require an abortion doctor to make burial or cremation arrangements for an aborted fetus.

Proposed by Rep. Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay), the legislation would require a fetus more than 10 weeks old to be either buried, cremated or donated for medical training or research. The woman would not have to give her consent to the arrangements, nor would she have to be told they are occurring, under the bill.

If the doctor didn't make the arrangements, he or she could be fined $1,000.

In an email to other legislators, Bies said his bill was modeled on a Michigan law enacted after an abortion facility was found disposing of its fetuses in a regular trash bin.

"They should be treated like a human being," Bies said in an interview.

Three bills on abortion have passed at least one house of the Legislature this month. The ultrasound bill, which is awaiting Gov. Scott Walker's signature, would require women to undergo the procedure before an abortion. The other two bills would outlaw abortions meant to choose the sex of a fetus and ban the use of taxpayer money to cover abortions in public employees' health insurance plans and free religious groups from having to provide contraception in their employee health plans.

It's far from clear, however, whether the burial arrangement bill can pass.

Kit Beyer, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), said that Vos was still reviewing the bill and that it was too early to say whether it would have his support or move forward in that house.

"We don't have all our fall schedule finalized," Beyer said.

Democrats said the Republicans should focus on creating jobs and not on social issues.

"This bill is a clear attempt by Wisconsin Republicans to distract our communities from their abysmal record on jobs and wages," Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Shorewood) said in an email.

Bies said he did not know the cost the bill might add to an abortion but said that such arrangements are often inexpensive. He said there were no instances in Wisconsin that worried him but that reports in other states were a concern. Bies said the woman didn't have to be informed or consulted under the bill because he didn't want to place an undue burden on her about the arrangements.

"It might create a deterrent to people deciding on abortion if they realize we are talking about human beings," he said. "They use these different terms. That they are disposing of the medical waste or whatever de-emphasizes that we are dealing with a human being."

The legislation does not currently provide for women whose religion or culture would require specific burial arrangements.

The bill is supported by Wisconsin Right to Life, the leading group of abortion opponents in the state, but the measure isn't the organization's lobbying focus.

"We certainly appreciate what Representative Bies is doing, but our efforts are really on those other bills," said Susan Armacost, a lobbyist for Right to Life, referring to the ultrasound bill and the two others.

Matt Sande, a lobbyist for Pro-Life Wisconsin, said his organization didn't work directly with Bies to write the bill but supports his effort to give the fetuses a "proper burial."

Pasch said the state's other priorities were languishing because of the level of attention given to the abortion bills.

"Wisconsin communities can no longer afford to have Wisconsin Republicans legislating their ideology ahead of the best interests of our state," Pasch said.

Officials from the Wisconsin Funeral Directors Association were not available for comment.

Cremation services for a stillborn or miscarried baby at the Cress Funeral and Cremation Services in Madison typically cost $75, according to operations manager Scott Kundinger. For a burial, a client would pay for merchandise and burial fees, which start at $500 to $1,200, Kundinger said.

Cress, like many funeral homes, provides some discounts because of the pain such a situation often causes families, but that is not necessarily true of all of them, he said. Kundinger was speaking of the fees for its services and was not addressing the bill.

Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this article.